In this week’s Must Reads: Amid lockdowns, shutdowns, curfews, and social distancing, there is a rise in reported cases of sexualized violence. In the UK, “It’s a perfect storm,” Suzanne Jacob, chief executive of British charity SafeLives. Reports of domestic abuse have spiked by about 30% since France went into lockdown in mid-March. In Pakistan, between 70 to 90 percent of women experience some form of physical, emotional or psychological abuse— mostly from an intimate partner.
1. “Lockdowns will lead to a surge in domestic abuse, but also severely limit the ability of services to help.” As the United Kingdom shut down, charities urged employers, bank staff, healthworkers and neighbours to be extra vigilant, adding that even a note dropped in a grocery bag could be a lifeline for a woman trapped with an abusive partner. (Thomson Reuters)
2. Reports of domestic abuse have spiked by about 30% since France went into lockdown in mid-March. French officials set up an “alert system” in pharmacies nationwide, where victims of domestic abuse could discreetly ask the pharmacist to call police by asking for a “mask 19.” The initiative mimics a scheme set up in Spain’s Canary Islands that uses the same code word. (Vice)
3. France announced that it will pay for 20,000 nights in hotel rooms for victims of domestic violence and open pop-up counseling centers at supermarkets. There are worrying reports from other countries, too. “There has always been gender violence, but this crisis makes it all worse,” said Simona Ammerata, who works at the Lucha y Siesta women’s shelter in Rome, Italy. (CNN)
4. “For decades, critically important public programs and structures have been starved of funding, and efforts to ensure that women have adequate income, health care, worker protections, support for caregivers, nutrition and housing assistance have been met with relentless resistance,” said Fatima Goss Graves, head of the National Women’s Law Center, in a statement to CBS News on Tuesday. “Those efforts have placed women and their families at unconscionable risk from the COVID-19 crisis.” (CBS)
5. In Pakistan, the most-cited estimate says between 70 to 90 percent of women experience some form of physical, emotional or psychological abuse— mostly from an intimate partner. Acts of physical violence in marital relationships are almost always accompanied by psychological abuse, and in thirty to fifty percent of cases, it is also accompanied by sexual abuse. Such abuse is typically part of an on-going pattern of patriarchal control, rather than an isolated act of physical aggression. (DAWN)
SPECIAL READ
- From Indrani Goradia on Thrive Global. In her piece No Place to Hide, she notes: “This Coronavirus pandemic is forcing closures of schools and workplaces. As I began to do my work in the gender violence space, I realized that victims have the same fears about being at home with a raging abuser. When the abuser is at home, violence occurs. When the abuser is at work, the victim gets a respite, either because they (victims) go to work themselves or because they(victims) are at home alone.“When we add the ongoing pandemic of violence to women, it is easy to see that there will be more pain for women who are being forced to spend time at home.”
Also…
Podcast with Indrani Goradia: Pandemic Inside a Pandemic. Listen on Our Voices Matter.
Coronavirus lockdown in India: Vimlesh Solanki, a volunteer for a Sambhali Trust, an organisation that supports women in Jodhpur, the second largest city in Rajasthan, says coronavirus has put women in danger. “Stressful situations like this means that there are more things that trigger their already abusive partners.” (BBC)
Here’s What Women’s Rights Lawyers Want You To Know About Supporting Working Women During COVID-19. (Refinery29)
UNFPA issues guidance on COVID-19. Women represent 70 percent of the health and social sector workforce globally and special attention should be given to how their work environment may expose them to discrimination, as well as thinking about their sexual and reproductive health and psychosocial needs as frontline health workers.
Download: English Spanish Fr
ench Arabic Turkish Portugu ese Russian Tajik - The Rotary Foundation: Now accepting applications for the 2021-22 Rotary Peace
Fellowship program. Candidates have until 31 May to submit applications to their district. Districts must submit endorsed applications to The Rotary Foundation by 1 July. (Rotary) (BBC)
Share your stories with Every Woman Treaty via email at Elizabeth@everywoman.org.
